


Fire and Powder

by basedonconjecture



Category: Much Ado About Nothing - Shakespeare
Genre: Alternate Universe - Future, Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, Gen, Multi, Other, POV Multiple
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-14
Updated: 2018-07-14
Packaged: 2019-06-10 05:39:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,786
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15284868
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/basedonconjecture/pseuds/basedonconjecture
Summary: It's 2598. The world is changed but some stories are timeless.Enjoy this comedy-turned-drama-turned-space-race in this reimagined retelling of Shakespeare's classic romp in a distant future where flying yachts and spaceships might be the common transportation but sworn enemies forced to work together might just be hiding their true feelings beneath all their barbs.





	Fire and Powder

**Author's Note:**

> CHAPTER SYNOPSIS:
> 
> Since the deaths of her parents, Bea Allegri has lived with her uncle and his family in Greater Messina where he is governor. Her dream: to go to the capital to study philosophy and literature and travel what remains of Terra. The current unrest in Roma both with their neighbor and ally, Svede, and the tense political climate has kept her tethered far from the big city. It isn't all terrible. She loves her uncle's plantation and the people there. Her cousin and best friend, Hero, is always nearby. The one blight on her situation takes the shape of a young military captain she has unfortunate history with and he's just arrived with Don Pedro's entourage.

 

 

##  Bea:

 

     We were in the orchard when we got the news that the ship was preparing to land.   
  
     Of course we had already seen Don Pedro’s yacht as it crossed above the glass dome covering AG-3, the largest agricultural sector of my uncle’s property that housed the apple orchard. Although this time of the day, when the sun was at its strongest, the glass was shaded enough to protect the trees from too much UV radiation as well as Uncle Leo’s workers -- and, of course, our picnicking party come to enjoy the afternoon beneath the protection of the dome. The tinted hyper-tempered glass was also good at disguising the desert wasteland beyond the safety of the estate compound.   
  
    Some of the elderly servants in my uncle’s household could recall a time before the domes had become nearly-mandatory and commonplace on Terra. I had lived my entire life under domes similar to this one now so it was a curiosity to me to listen to them talk. And talk they did when they found a willing ear.   
  
    Unlike now, summer had once been a season of long, hot days and balmy nights and thunderous rain storms to break up the heat with humidity. We could have all these things now, of course, if we wished. The AG sector had been installed with a state-of-the-art atmospheric conditioning unit that could create rain or mist or dry heat as necessary. As it was, all year long, it was generally kept at whatever the optimal temperatures were for my uncle’s crops.   
  
    Currently, it was warm and sunny with a chill breeze from the near-invisible fans all around to keep us from becoming overheated.  In my opinion, it was the most perfect sort of weather. Like most everything about Uncle Leo’s plantation in Greater Messina, I loved it. I could turn my face up to the filtered rays of sunlight and let it warm my skin, knowing that even with the filter I would gain a few more freckles on my nose to spite the ladies of the estate who would cluck their tongues at me.   
  
    Being unconventional had been the quality that had followed me all throughout my life and I saw no reason to stop being unconventional now, even if they swore up and down that it would keep me from being considered the beauty my cousin was.   
  
     Even more so if it did. There was more to life than a few wayward freckles.   
  
     I wanted to study at the Academia in the capital. No, I was _going_ to study in the capital if I had to sell everything I owned and live on _lira_ rations in some closet to do so.  However, there were other plans to be exhausted first as to how I would get to the Academia. The first and most important step was passing the entrance exam that was held in Padua twice a year. I was planning on sitting for the exam held at the end of the 8th month, which meant I only had a month to convince Uncle Leo to let met go...and help me get there.   
  
     A reasonable sum of credits had been set aside for my care upon my parents’ deaths but I had no idea how much it had been then or how much of it still was left. Uncle Leo had been the trustee of it since then but I had passed through the guardianship of several other relatives first before being sent here to Messina.  
  
     While I loved this quiet little province of land so far out from any other of the established cities in the Roma-Svede commonwealth, I wanted to study and see as much of Terra as I possibly could. Like my parents had before I was born. To do that, I needed many more credits than I likely had. I desperately needed to talk to my uncle but I also needed a plan and the hubbub of the Lunar Festival preparations had set both things on the back burner.

     I sighed as I reclined back on the blanket we had spread across the grass that had been planted along the manufactured hillock where the orchard had been planted. Around me, the excited murmurs of our picnicking party _nearly_ drowned out the hum of the messenger droid as it zoomed towards us. I was bound and determined to ignore its inevitable news, despite the twisting in my stomach. If there was one thing I disliked about living in Messina, it was my uncle’s choice in friends.

     The Don had come to attend the Lunar Festival as he did every year and, like every year, he had brought his entourage along with him: a handful of rising stars from the capital. Usually brilliant young minds or skilled soldiers in his command. While I hoped to one day be the former, it was the latter that I generally dreaded.

     Rather, one soldier in particular.

     “Vessel Y-215L _Aragon_ requesting permission to dock in Landing Bay 2,” the droid chirped in the pleasant, West Euro accent it had been installed with.

     “Yes, yes, permission granted,” Uncle Leo waved at the faceless robot. “Does the don send any news from the border?”

     “No information, governor,” the droid replied pleasantly. “Intelligence indicates that Don Marcus Pedro and Captain Bejn Trevisan are both aboard--”

     A loud groan escaped from my lips before I could stop it, drowning out whatever else the messenger might have conveyed. _Of course,_ not surprised in the least though somehow having had subconsciously hoped he’d been prevented from coming this year. Or ever. Blown to smithereens by an energy missile had been too much to hope for, it seemed.

    “Oooh, is it true Captain Trevisan was recently at the borders, Sir Leonato?” A girl about my age cooed from another blanket a few yards away. I couldn’t recall her name though I knew she had arrived with her parents, acquaintances of my uncle, a few days ago for the festival.

    I also knew that she hailed from the capitol and that only made me hate her more than her strawberry blonde curls, bright blue eyes, and sickly sweet manner already had. My cousin Hero sent me a sidelong look, an amused smile curling her lips even as she patted my hand next to hers on the blanket. I pursed my own lips, keeping my mouth firmly shut against saying any of the number of off color things that ran through my mind.

     “Yes, I do believe that is so, Rosalyn,” Uncle Leo answered jovially. “He informed us as such last we saw of him.”

    He was speaking of last year’s Lunar Festival and I cringed, knowing what was next. Hero’s grasp on my hand only tightened as she, too, anticipated her father’s next words.

     “Bea?” Uncle Leo turned to me, everyone else falling suit. I felt a dozen pair of eyes fall on my prostrate form from around the small circle of blankets we all had made. “Was it not the borders to which Captain Trevisan was sent?”

     Gritting my teeth, I sat up and faced my uncle. The sparkle of mischief in his eye made my jaw clench. He was teasing me in front of all of his guests and I was not about to let him win. Tossing my hair over my shoulder, I gave him a disinterested shrug. “I believe that _is_ what he said, Uncle, but it was so long ago now that I hardly remember.”

     “Oh, come now,” he admonished with a chuckle. “Did you not make a bet with him about that very thing? Did she not, Hero?” He turned to his daughter for aid in his teasing. To my chagrin, Hero back up his claim.

     “She most certainly did, papa!” I shot her a glare and she only laughed.

    “Oh, that’s right!” I feigned having only just remembered, getting to my feet. Crossing my arms, I surveyed the gathered party. “Only it wasn’t a bet, simply an observation. Captain Trevisan claimed he would be _so_ successful in securing the borders that he would likely be bored in a matter weeks. I merely warned him to not grow too fat from sitting on his ass all that time -- though, of course, it might balance out his ego. He does have an unusually large head.”

      A few of the guests guffawed outright while still more snickered politely by their hands.

     “He is a good soldier, Miss Bea,” a man near my uncle’s age protested gruffly.

    “His head seems perfectly suited to him,” Rosaline chimed in again, cutting me a scathing look before examining her pristinely manicured fingernails. “The ladies in the capital agree that he casts a fine figure in his uniform.”

     “Oh, yes, I’m sure. And he almost has the wit of a droid. ” I nodded solemnly, feigning seriousness for all of two seconds before continuing with my admittedly less-than-shining remarks on the obviously well-regarded captain.  

     For its part, the messenger droid chirped a ‘thank you’ which only served to draw more laughter.

     “I pity anyone forced to bear his company.” It was my turn to study my nails -- clipped short and uneven as they were. “Prop him up in the corner and let him serve as a mannequin. _Silently._ Now there’s a use for him I can get behind.”

     “You sound as if you dislike the captain,” Rosaline pouted, her mouth such a perfect moue it made me want to slap it off her face. “I heard he’s become quite the hero of the military now that he’s secured the borders and is bound to receive at least one medal from the Council when he returns to the capital.”

     Hero shot me a warning look as I opened my mouth to respond but Uncle Leo cut me off.

    “Alright, why don’t we all find out exactly how fat the young captain has grown,” he called pleasantly to the assembled party before turning to the droid. “Inform them that we will be at the Bay to greet them.”

     My eyes rolled towards the dome reluctant still, but with everyone else in the party abandoning their blankets and their lunches, I couldn't very well stay behind. Not with Hero tugging on my hand. Though I couldn't say my dealings with Captain Trevisan had been at all pleasant in the past, and I doubted any we might have this time would be either, I vowed then to do my best to avoid him. He wasn't going to ruin this year's festival for me. And I wasn't going to ruin Hero's time with Dio by complaining about his existence. The latter, however, I already knew would be a miracle if I could manage it. 


End file.
